Meaning

This saying points to a truth about human psychology: the problem of discontentment is not really about the things we lack, but about the habit of mind that always wants more. Someone who cannot find satisfaction in their present circumstances will almost certainly carry that same restlessness into whatever new situation they acquire. Getting the thing you want does not cure the wanting; it simply moves the target.

Context

This line is widely attributed to Socrates, though no direct ancient source has been pinpointed with certainty, and it may have reached us through later compilations of philosophical wisdom rather than from Plato's dialogues. The idea, however, fits naturally within Socratic and Stoic thinking, which held that lasting well-being comes from an inner state of mind rather than from the accumulation of external goods. Ancient Greek philosophy returned repeatedly to the question of what genuinely satisfies a human being.

About the author

Socrates was an Athenian philosopher who lived in the fifth century BCE and is regarded as one of the founding figures of Western philosophy. He wrote nothing himself, and nearly everything we know about his thought comes through the works of his students, most notably Plato. He was famous for his method of questioning, for his insistence on self-examination, and for his conviction that virtue and inner clarity matter far more than wealth or status. He was tried and executed by Athens in 399 BCE.